What You Need to Know - There is much confusion over the different terms that you may hear on the news attributed to the thousands of people moving from their home nations to the EU. The information below is 'need to know' before you start your study on the current EU migrant crisis.

Asylum seekermeans a person who has applied for asylum under the 1951 Refugee Convention on the Status of Refugees on the ground that if he is returned to their country of origin they has a well-founded fear of persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, political belief or membership of a particular social group. That person remains an asylum seeker for so long as their application or an appeal against refusal of an application is pending.

Refugee in this context means an asylum seeker whose application has been successful. In its broader context it means a person fleeing e.g. civil war or natural disaster but not necessarily fearing persecution as defined by the 1951 Refugee Convention. During mass movements of refugees (usually as a result of conflicts or generalized violence as opposed to individual persecution), there is not - and never will be - a capacity to conduct individual asylum interviews for everyone who has crossed the border. Nor is it usually necessary, since in such circumstances it is generally evident why they have fled.

Economic migrant means a person who has left his own country and seeks means to find employment in another country.

Starter Materials - What issues do these two video cover.

Crossing Boarder and Claiming Ayslum - The conflict in Syria is by far the biggest driver of the migration. But the ongoing violence in Afghanistan, abuses in Eritrea, as well as poverty in Kosovo are also leading people to look for new lives elsewhere.

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) estimates that more than 700,000 migrants were detected at the EU's borders between January and October 2015, compared with 280,000 detections for the whole of 2014. The figures do not include those who got in undetected.

The EU's external border force, Frontex, monitors the different routes migrants use and numbers arriving at Europe's borders and put the figure crossing into Europe this year at more than 710,000. (BBC - Migrant crisis - Migration to Europe explained in graphics)

The Interactive map below shows the number of asylum applications per country between 2010 and 2014. You can click on each country to view the data for a particular country over a five year period. The second map below (click to enlarge), shows the major flow of refugees into the EU between January and July of 2015.

The map below (click to enlarge), shows the major flow of refugees into the EU between January and July of 2015.The last figures on migration into European can be found on this interactive map produced by Frontex.

Map to show Origin and routes of migrants into Europe.

The graph below (click to enlarge) shows the country of origin of the asylum applications per country between Jan and Aug 2015. The actual figures for the number of asylum seekers for the graph below can found here.

The graph and map below (click to enlarge), show the destination with Europe of these asylum seekers.

Asylum claims in Europe in 2015

A Typical Journey - The following resources shows how a Syrian refugee Hashem Alsouki risks his life crossing the Mediterranean, his sights set on Sweden – and freedom for his family. Read the story carefully and listen to the embedded audio files as well as watching the videos. Click the link to open the full article Guardian. ​

The video below 'Migrants tell their stories after rescue on Lampedusa' - highlights their countries of origin, the route they took and why they migrated. Click on the video to listen to their stories.​\

The article below 'Five migrant stories from Greece: The pull of Europe' - highlights some of the reasons why they migrated. Read the transcripts and watch the videos. Click on the link to open the BBC webpage.​

An article by the Guardian suggested that 62% of migrants are refugees. So far from being propelled by economic migrants, this crisis is mostly about refugees. The assumption by the likes of Hammond, May and others is that the majority of those trying to reach Europe are fleeing poverty, which is not considered by the international community as a good enough reason to move to another country.

​Whereas in fact, by the end of July, 62% of those who had reached Europe by boat this year were from Syria, Eritrea and Afghanistan, according to figures compiled by the UN. These are countries torn apart by war, dictatorial oppression, and religious extremism – and, in Syria’s case, all three. Their citizens almost always have the legal right to refuge in Europe. And if you add to the mix those coming from Darfur, Iraq, Somalia, and some parts of Nigeria – then the total proportion of migrants likely to qualify for asylum rises to well over 70%. (Guardian - 10 truths about Europe's migration crisis).

Information on Syria - The website shown below contains some useful information about the Syrian refugee crisis - link here to access the site. The image is a preview of the home page.

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​The video below brilliantly explains Syria's four-year civil war became so complicated, as we teeter on the edge of becoming militarily involved in it for the first time. Taking us from the first protests against Assad's regime in early 2011, the Vox video explains how different factions emerged over time and the war evolved into a confrontation between regional powers as well as the US and Russia. Next time someone argues for or against whether we should bomb Islamic State in Syria as if it's straight forward, suggest they watch this.​

Information on Eritrea - The webpage below contains some useful information about the Eritrea and the people migrating from this country - click here to access the site. ​